Treasury made no plans for Brexit

A senior Treasury official has told MPs the Treasury has done no contingency planning for the UK’s vote to leave the EU.

The Financial Times reports while the Treasury liaised with the Bank of England and the FCA, its work on Brexit was limited to two reports setting out the negative economic implications of the Leave.

Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar told the public accounts committee yesterday the Treasury had not discussed any practical steps for leaving the EU.

He said: “The Government did not produce an alternative desired end point for the relationship between the UK and the EU. That is something that will have to happen.

“We expect . . . the referendum to cause a significant negative economic shock. As a result, it looks unlikely that the 2019/20 fiscal target will be met. It is right to wait a few months to have a better assessment of where the economy is going.”

Asked whether the Treasury had the necessary resources to cope, Scholar said there was a “civil service-wide exercise to ask that question precisely”, but he added “we will be ready as a finance ministry for any response that will be needed”.

In the lead up to the June referendum, chancellor George Osborne said uncertainty about the Leave campaign’s desired outcome post Brexit made contingency planning difficult.